What
happened to PM's honorary degree?
Thursday July 28, 2011 06:36:38 PM,
Jaideep Sarin, IANS
|
Chandigarh: Prime
Minister Manmohan Singh is undoubtedly one of the most
distinguished students to have ever studied at Panjab University.
But his name seems to be curiously missing from a list of those
given an honorary doctorate of law degree.
A Right to Information (RTI) inquiry by activist Rajinder K.
Singla shows that the prime minister's name does not figure in the
list of those honoured by the university with a Doctor of Laws (honoris
causa) degree since 1949.
However, it's common knowledge that the university had organised a
special convocation for its most distinguished student Nov 3,
2009, and conferred on him the same degree.
"The university had hosted a special convocation Nov 3, 2009, to
award a Doctor of Laws (honoris causa), to Manmohan Singh,
incurring huge public money for the event," Singla told IANS.
"The registration branch of the university has disclosed that a
total of 74 honoris causa doctorate degrees have been awarded by
the university in the field of law, literature, science and
oriental learning since 1949 till February 2011.
"As per the RTI reply, no individual has so far been awarded twice
with such honorary degrees. Accordingly, Dr Manmohan Singh has
been awarded with only D.Litt. on March 12, 1983, but not any
Doctor of Laws," Singla said.
But the activist said that in the case of Prime Minister Manmohan
Singh alone the university has conferred on the same person two
degrees honoris causa -- a Doctor of Literature (D.Litt.) and a
Doctor of Laws.
"I cannot understand why the university is trying to hide
information about conferring two honoris causa degrees on Manmohan
Singh. I think that PU authorities take RTI information very
casually," he said.
PU Registrar A.K. Bhandari, however, says it could be a factual
error.
"The Doctor of Laws was awarded to the prime minister in 2009. It
could be a case of factual error in the information provided
through RTI," Bhandari admitted.
Singla also pointed out that even the prime minister's official
website does not mention anything about his Doctor of Laws degree,
though all other degrees are mentioned.
Manmohan Singh was a student at the university in the 1950s and
later joined the Department of Economics here. He went on to
become a professor in the department at the young age of 32.
The university had in 2009 also announced the setting up of a Dr
Manmohan Singh chair in the economics department -- the first
instance of a chair being established in the name of a living
personality.
The university has so far awarded Doctor of Laws degree to 25
people, including the country's first home minister Vallabhbhai
Patel (1949), former prime minister Indira Gandhi (1973), former
prime minister Inder Kumar Gujral (1999) and Union Minister Kapil
Sibal (2006), among others.
(Jaideep Sarin
can be contacted at jaideep.s@ians.in)
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